All in all, not a bad weekend...

This weekend's cyclo-cross competition brought us to Veterans Park in Ann Arbor. This weekend featured Michigan's second doubleheader of the season, on a very physically demanding course. The course featured a nice sized hill that was incorporated into each lap several times, that really took its toll on its participants as the race wore on.

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day with temps in the mid 50's, very nice cyclo-cross weather. The days winner, Joe Brown took off like a shot right from the start. I eased into the pace getting to the first hill in 5th, but I noticed Joe was still putting the hammer down.... so I had get busy in my chase mode. Well my chase mode wasn't closing on him.... Joe just kept putting more and more time into me, but the good news was my chase was leaving the rest of the racers behind. After finishing the second lap I knew I wasn't going to catch him, so I just rode hard enough to protect my 2nd place. I ended up finishing a very satisfying 2nd, with enough time in hand that I could back off my pace with 1 1/2 laps remaining. I knew I would need to save something for Sunday's race, as I knew it would be a much harder day.

Sunday was a different day for sure. This day was going to be nothing like Saturday, it was cloudy, chilly, the course ran backwards from the day before, an additional lap was added.... and all the big guns were here. Oh boy! The race took off like a speeding bullet, and I decided wisely to follow the fastest wheels.... and I did for a while. We had a nice group of six for the first lap, the farthest distance into a race this year a group this size stayed together. Keith Riege was setting a pretty brutal pace up front, but it was doable initially... but as the race wore on, it was just too fast for me. By the middle of the second lap I was riding behind David Linden, we were 5th and 6th. As we approached the biggest climb on the course, I was pretty confident I could hurt him on the climb and ride away. I was right, and from that point on I rode away from him and the remainder of the chasers. For the rest of the race, I was once again riding to protect my placing. I was losing a little time to the four in front of me, while gaining time on those racing behind. In the end Andy Klumb from Ohio won our race (he raced Pro/Elite the day before), and I rode in with a very solid 5th place.

All in all, it was a good weekend. My fitness is pretty good right now, but it's far from peak. It's such a long season that starts in April and ends in December, and with Leadville in August being my main objective.... I'm pretty much riding on that fitness. Now with the days shorter and colder, it'll be hard to improve on my conditioning.... but if I can maintain this fitness for the rest of the season and maybe if everyone is at their peak form... I might be able to pull off some better results as the season continues on. We'll see, a big if for sure. Two more races (one is the State Championships)  left in Michigan for the point series, and then the National Championships in Kansas City on December 14th. So basically 6 weeks left in this long race season, then it's some much desired couch time for a few weeks before I start preparing for 2008.

Leopard Roars In....

This past Friday, Apple released their latest update to the Macintosh operating system.... Mac OS 10.5 or a.k.a. "Leopard". I've spent the majority of the weekend (oh, I found time to train too) digging around Leopard, discovering all of the new features and finding new enhancements to previous features.... I was like a kid with a new toy. I just read this morning that Apple sold over 2 million copies of Leopard this weekend (my Apple stock is soaring!), and Apple is the only computer company to have double digit growth over the past 12 months. Obviously, people are finally finding out how much better the user experience of the Mac is over Windows.... which I've known for 20 plus years. If you've been on the fence about making the switch.... go visit your local Apple Store, you'll be off that fence pretty quickly. 

Lower Huron CX, October 21, 2007

Well, I've been hemming and hawing on this post for four days now and I still don't know how I really feel about this race. It's not that I had a bad race, maybe it's because I didn't have a great race. It was once again seasonably warmer than average.... which I don't care for, but the other guys had to deal with that as well. It was a beautiful day though.... no torrentail rains, freezing temps or knee deep mud.... which I had really feared two weeks earlier.

It started off pretty well, as I had a nice position on the long headwind straight away behind those who chose to face the wind first. As we hit the grass, I was nicely placed in third position and when we hit the "sand pit".... I moved up to second as total chaos insued behind me as racers went all over the place. I maintained second place behind the then again winner Mark Wolowiec until we got to "the wall".... where I went from 2nd to 5th in about 50 feet. I'm just not a runner, and that run up didn't help me in anyway during the race. From that point on I just pretty much rode a hard steady race, losing a little time to those in front of me each lap.... while putting time on those behind me. I ended up finishing a very uninspiring 5th, a distant two minutes behind the winner.

The 5th place finish puts me in 4th for the Cyclo-Cross Point Series, behind 4 guys that I'll have a difficult time making any ground on.... but the season still has 4 races left, so we'll see.

Next up - Veterans Park in Ann Arbor, November 3rd & 4th.

Cycling in The Netherlands

After four cyclo-cross races in three weekends, I earned a well deserved weekend off from racing... and where else better to spend it than in a nation with some of top cyclo-cross racers in the world, The Netherlands.

Without doubt, the best aspect of my job is the opportunity to travel the world on the company's dime. The Netherlands is where I go most often when flying internationally, and for good reason... I have a bicycle there! Cycling in the The Netherlands is nothing short of awesome, great roads and bike lanes without motorists who are trying to run you over.

Our layover hotel is perfectly situated on the north side of Amsterdam, just a short 3 mile ride to the countryside. The Dutch countryside is beautiful, with small villages and farms dotting the Noord Holland landscape. I can get out and do two to three hour training rides without ever stopping... and that's without running stop signs ;-) It's such a short list of places that can offer better areas to train than The Netherlands. The weather is much like Michigan as Autumn and Spring are near identical, but with much cooler summers and a bit milder winters... plus you'll always find a breeze, if not strong gusts (hence all the windmills).

If you ever get a chance to travel there, don't miss the opportunity to ride a bike while visiting... you won't be disappointed for sure.

USAC Stony Creek CX, October 7th, 2007

Stony Creek! UGH! I'm not sure what was worse on Sunday, the heat or running through the sand? Well... the heat was worse without doubt. It was just crazy Africa hot & humid, not cyclocross weather in the least.

I actually started the day off feeling pretty good, especially considering I was still a little jet lagged after arriving home from Amsterdam on Saturday night. I intentionally started from the back of the pack in the Masters 45+ category, with the plan of easing into the pace of the race. By the middle of lap 1, I began my job of picking off riders as the race progressed. By the middle of the next lap, I had moved up to 2nd... but I was way behind the turbo charged Mark Wolowiec, he was just flying and went onto win. Unfortunately my 2nd place wasn't to last too long... by the 3rd lap my radiator was seriously overheating and if I had any hope of finishing I would have to ease up on the excelerator. It was all bad from that point on, first Keith Riege zoomed by me and then on the next lap... Joe Brown motored right on by as well. After that I was in total survival mode, just hoping that my slowing pace would hold onto 4th. Lucky for me I did hang onto 4th, but I was looking over my shoulder all the way to the finish line. In the end the good news was I held onto 4th place by a minute & 12 seconds, but the bad news was I was down 2 minutes & 40 seconds to the winner Mr. Wolowiec. It was a really tough race under quite horrific heat, and I was pretty happy to salvage 4th after it was all said & done. Hopefully... next race I won't be complaining about the freezing cold temps, torrential rains and knee deep mud... let's hope not!

Next race - USAC Lower Huron CX on Sunday October, 21st.